Coffee became famous in Indonesia in 1696 when Mayor semanjak Asterdam, Nicholas Witsen ordered the commander of the Dutch forces in the Malabar Coast, Adrian Van Ommen, to bring the beans to Batavia. Arabica coffee is first grown and developed at a place in the east Djatinegara, which uses ground partikelir Kedaung now better known as Pondok Coffee. Some time later arabica coffee spread to various areas in West Java such as Bogor, Sukabumi, Banten and Priangan, until then spread to other areas, such as Sumatera, Sulawesi, Bali and Timor.

Shortly after that, coffee became a very reliable trading commodity VOC. Exports of coffee first performed in 1711 by the VOC, and during the 10-year exports increased to 60 tons / year. Therefore, the Dutch East Indies became the first plantation outside of Arabia and Ethiopia which makes VOC monopolize the coffee trade from 1725 to 1780.

To support the production of coffee, VOCs make lopsided agreements with the local authorities where the native coffee plant are required to be submitted to the VOC. This agreement is called Koffiestelsel (coffee system). Thanks to this system is also of high quality coffee beans from Java land could overwhelm Europe. Java coffee was so terkenak while in Europe so that Europeans call it instead a cup of coffee, but a cup of java. Until the mid-19th century, Javanese coffee is the best in the world.

Suffering due koffie stelsel then continues with alias cultuurstelsel forced cultivation system. Through a system of forced cultivation created Johannes van den Bosch (1780-1844), the people are required for growing government-owned export commodities, including coffee at one fifth of the cultivated land, or work for 66 days at the government-owned plantations. As a result, there was a famine in the land of Java and Sumatra in the 1840s. However, thanks to the Java cultuurstelsel became the largest supplier of coffee beans in Europe. In between the years 1830-1834 in Java Arabica coffee production reached 26,600 tons, hose 30 years later coffee production had increased to 79 600 tonnes.

Java coffee production reached its zenith in the 19th century, which in 1880-1884 reached 94.4 thousand tons. At that time, coffee plays a much more important role than the sugar cane. If the value of coffee exports on average between the years 1865-1970 reached 25.965 million guilders, then in the same period the average export value of sugar cane just reached 8.416 million guilders. 

Fall of java coffee started when disease struck in 1878 coffee plantations across the archipelago Each affected coffee pest caused by Hemileia Vasatrix. The disease kills all plants that grow arabica in the lowlands. Arabica coffee is grown on the remaining land is just as high as 1,000 meters above sea level. 

The fading glories of Java coffee is then filled by Arabica coffee from Brazil and Colombia who continue to dominate until now. Even so, the rest of Arabica coffee plants are still found in pockets in Indonesian coffee producers, among others, Ijen plateau (East Java), high soil Toraja (South Sulawesi), as well as the upper slopes of the Bukit Barisan mountains (Sunatera), as Mandailaing, Lintong and Sidikalang (Sumatra), as well as the central highlands (Aceh). 

To address these vicious pests, the Dutch government then Liberika coffee plant more pest resistant. Unfortunately, this variety is not so long and also popular pests. So Robusta coffee was introduced in Indonesia in the early 1900s to replace Liberika and arabica coffee were destroyed because of pests. Robusta coffee is more resistant to pests is considered as an appropriate alternative to coffee plantations, especially in low-lying areas. Currently, coffee production in Indonesia ranks fourth largest in the world.